The invention relates to a televoting method and system, in which a large number of subscribers connected to a telecommunications network, such as a telephone network, are able to make a call to a subscriber number, hereinafter referred to as televoting number, of a televoting processor also connected to said network in order then to transmit their vote to said televoting processor.
It is known to use telephone sets as a terminal for carrying out `televoting`. When this is done, a large number of people are asked to cast their vote by making use of their telephone set, in particular tone dialing set. Their `vote` can be transmitted by dialling a certain number, the `televoting number`, which belongs to the `televoting processor`, usually a computer system, and then pressing, for example, one of the keys 0-9. The casting of a vote often relates to a radio or TV program which is being listened to or watched at that instant. A problem for the proprietor of the telephone network is the enormous quantity of telephone traffic within a short period (`traffic explosion`) which accompanies such televoting. Thus, during a popular TV program in which an appeal is made to viewers at a certain moment by means of televoting, a situation may arise in which a few million call attempts are made in the course of a few minutes in order to be able to vote via the telephone, for example, for one of a number of people appearing in the TV program. Practical experience has shown that a public telephone network can become completely disrupted thereby.